Environmental
Issues


A major section of the humans and its relation to the environment is the welfare of our biosphere.

SAVE THE WHALES

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Whale off the coast of Brazil (Ruschel, 1996) AP


Many issues have come up as the human population expanded and grown, and we have become more aware of our actions.
Some major ones are biodiversity, climate change and global warming, human population. and nature and animal conservation.

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Giant Waxy Tree Frog from South America (Duncan, 2008) AP
Biodiversity

Biodiversity gives our world its beautiful array of species. It increases diversity and production. Every species finds a niche in their ecosystem and has an important role they play. Also, each species interact and relate to one another. Without one, there puts a tremendous strain on many aspects of the ecosystem such as the food chain and predation. We lose a species of plants and animals to extinction, and many of them hold the opportunites to cures and medicinal uses. Our ocean and seas are losing fish and aquatic organisms to overfishing and pollution. Tropical forests and virgin forests are lost as industries move in, and this not only affects plant life but also that of animal life, that need the forests and underbrush to support them. (Shah, 2007)

Climate Change and Global Warming
The term climate change and global warming refers to the increase in global temperatures due to a large part of human activities, especially the emissions of carbon dioxide. The high levels of carbon dioxide affect the greenhouse phenomenon. Not only is there carbon dioxide but also sulfur and methane, but -fluorocarbons also. The claimed increase in temperature has a direct effect on all factors of the biosphere. It limits and forces where organisms live. Behavioral patterns must change and adapt to the new circumstances. The ice caps are melting causing a sea level increase. The entire world has tried to respond by holding conferences to debate whether or not they should address the problem, and if so, to what degree.
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Traffic in Bangkok (Sasahara, 1996) AP
(Shah, 2007)


Human Population
The human population is more than 6 billion and is increasing. Human population follows an exponential graph, and soon populations can rapidly double in a very short time. Not only would it be hard to feed the world with such a large population, but also it creates a huge strain on the environmental resources the world has to offer. (Shah, 2007)

Nature and Animal Conservation
The World Wildlife Organization says that humans have directly or indirectly destroyed more than 30 percent of the natural world since 1970. Many species are dwindling as their homes and habitats are being invaded or destroyed by humans. Desertification is becoming a huge problem that is going unnoticed. Realize that conserving a species that is dwindling is much harder as the population count become lower and lower, and their is less to work with ultimately. (Shah, 2007)

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